The Sacrificial Lamb
by Azure K Mello
Summary: SPOILERS OotP. Slash, Drarry. Draco tries to help Harry through a ruff patch.


Title: The Sacrificial Lamb  
  
Rated: R  
  
Writer: Az K Mello  
  
Warnings: MPREG, angst, fluff, domestic abuse, spoilers for OotP.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. JK Rowling owns everything. The first four paragraphs of the flashback are paraphrased from OotP, and Draco's line in that period of space is from page 750 of the English printing.  
  
Note: The other day I was walking down the street in NYC and I saw the most amazing thing. No one sits on the curb, but there in front of me a girl and a guy were sitting. From their body language you could see that they obviously weren't comfortable with each other. But they were holding a civil conversation none the less. I had a sudden image of Harry and Draco holding a civil conversation on a street curb. Later at home I had a random thought pop into my head. Maybe they were old lovers (the pair on the street) maybe they had broken up and she was now telling him that she was pregnant. 17 pages later I've stopped obsessing over said couple. Yea for plot bunnies!!  
  
Thank you so much Cassie and Kari for the beta work! I needed it!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Dursley." Said a voice over the telephone as someone picked up the other end.  
  
"Mr. Dursley?" asked a young man's voice cautiously.  
  
"Who is this?" asked Vernon.  
  
"My name is. . . Derrick, I'm a friend of Harry's." the word "friend" caught slightly in his throat but it was true, they were friends, no matter how odd it was to say it out loud. He changed his name knowing that his real name would raise alarm bells telling the man that he was a wizard.  
  
"How do you know my nephew?" Vernon asked suspiciously.  
  
"We went to Junior school together," he lied knowing that if he mentioned Hogwarts the man was liable to explode. From the little Harry had told him Draco knew that these stupid muggles were skittish around wizards, maybe they felt inferior around the better blood. Whatever the case he wisely did not mention the school for fear that the man would hang up the phone, "May I speak to him please?"  
  
"Boy!" Shouted Dursley, not moving the phone away from the mouth piece, "You have a phone call! Someone called Derrick." Draco shook his head trying to get the ringing out of his ears.  
  
"Hello?" asked an uncertain Harry.  
  
"Hi, Harry. It's Draco."  
  
"Do you know I think you're the first person to ever use a telephone well enough to go under my uncles scanner of "freaks"?" he asked softly, Draco laughed nervously. "What's wrong?" Harry sounded worried at the other boy's clear discomfort.  
  
"I need to see you."  
  
Sighing Harry said softly, "You can't come here. They won't like it. I'm sorry."  
  
"I'm at the end of your road using the payphone."  
  
A shocked pause was followed by a disbelieving laugh. "I'll come meet you."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I don't want any of your ruddy friends in my house!" shouted his uncle.  
  
"And not on my floor!" added Petunia.  
  
"I know," said Harry in his best soothing voice. "I'll go and talk to him and he won't ever come in."  
  
Red faced his uncle nodded assent, "But be back in time to make dinner!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Flash back: seven weeks earlier*  
  
He couldn't bare to talk to his friends right now. It was too hard. They had no idea what he was going through. So he told them he was going to visit Hagrid. He might go and see the man but right now he wanted to be alone. And as Malfoy and co. walked towards him he simply sighed. Malfoy was angry that his father had been arrested. He blamed Harry instead of realizing that if his father was stupid enough to fall in with that lot then he deserved what he got.  
  
"You think you're such a big man, Potter," Malfoy approached him and Harry felt his breath hitch. "You wait. I'll have you."  
  
Harry concentrated on breathing. He really did hope that Malfoy got that chance someday. Why was this happening? Why was Malfoy getting him hot? Maybe it was just the stress of the day. Sirius had just died and everyone was being so kind to him and it made him want to puke. And Malfoy stood there sneering at him and it was just so. . . refreshing, to have someone not being sickly sweet with him. It wasn't as if he had never taken a good look at the other boy. He knew Draco was attractive. But he was also Harry's arch nemesis, and now it seemed, his rock.  
  
Snape broke up their fight before it even began. Pity, he could have hexed out some of his pain on Malfoy who always seemed willing to take it. He went to see Hagrid who had tried to discuss Sirius and he bolted out of the demi-giant's house. He had come to rest under a tree. He tipped his head back and felt the sunlight on his closed eyes. Purification via light. He needed time to grieve the way he wanted to. He didn't want Dumbledore's permission and he didn't need Hagrid's sympathy. He needed time.  
  
And then the sun stopped touching his face. Gingerly, he opened his eyes and saw Draco looming above him. "What?" he asked in a testy tone.  
  
"I'm sorry about earlier." Harry looked at him blankly. "I was with Crabbe and Goyle, I had to say something. I'm not that bad really. And I'm sorry about Sirius. I know how much he meant to you." He thought about the pain of losing someone who actually loved you. It hurt, he knew from first hand experience. His father's sister Laveda had been the black sheep of the Malfoy line. She was a good kind woman and she loved her little Dragon when his own parents just viewed him as an heir. She had died "mysteriously". Oh yes, Draco knew about having someone ripped from you by bastards.  
  
"Fuck off," said Harry.  
  
"My Aunt Bella-"  
  
"Who killed him!!" interrupted Harry.  
  
"-has always been an evil bitch and I'm sorry. She's my family and I felt I needed to say something."  
  
Harry just stared at him open mouthed and then said, "Earlier?"  
  
"My father can rot." His posh accent was so perfect for the statement. "I don't want them to know that their lord is not mine." He thought again of Laveda, she died three days after refusing to get the Dark Mark.  
  
"Coward." Harry spat the word and Draco just studied him for a minute.  
  
"Yes, I am." Harry again looked at the boy as if trying to determine something. He gave a slight nod and Draco sat next to him.  
  
"I'm sorry about your father."  
  
"Fool deserved it." Draco shrugged. He laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I know it sounds wrong. And I know everyone else has said the same thing. But if you need to, want to, talk to someone I'll listen."  
  
Draco would listen. Draco could judge and Harry would care. He didn't have to worry about upsetting Draco because he didn't give a damn if he hurt the blond boy. Draco wasn't his friend and it wasn't up to Harry to protect him. Words started falling out of Harry's mouth. He cried, for the first time. Draco never touched him as he spoke. He just nodded and made small noises of agreement at the right places. Harry felt as if a physical weight was being taken off his chest. It was like waking up with Crookshanks on his chest. He never realized how heavy the cat was until he pushed the brute off him. He hadn't realized how badly he had needed to be able to just talk. It got dark and neither really noticed the light change.  
  
"We should go in," said Draco softly after about an hour of silence. "Your fan club will be worrying if we miss dinner entirely."  
  
"Let them," Harry replied, "I don't want to go into that Hall."  
  
It was getting cold and Draco never liked being by the Forbidden Forest after nightfall. "Then we won't go in there." Harry looked at him. *We*? He understood the meaning of Draco's words as the blond stood and offered him a hand up. "We could go down to my dorm. No one will be there. I could show you my potion collection."  
  
Smiling Harry said, "I'd like that."  
  
Draco did show Harry a really quite astounding collection of potions. Some were in ornate bottles and others hadn't be brewed in over twelve hundred years. But what amazed Harry more than the extensive collection of brews was the corner of the magazine he saw poking out from beneath Draco's bed.  
  
With a laugh he picked it up and leafed through the pages, "What would your family think of this?"  
  
"Consider it my dirty little secret," the Slytherin drawled.  
  
"I haven't read one of these in at least six years!" The Dandy comic book featured Desperate Dan the hapless yet endearing cowboy. Harry smirked when he read a joke, "I see they don't get funnier with time. God, I used to love these."  
  
Draco lent down and pulled a large stack of the muggle comic books and dropped them with a thud on the bed next to where Harry was now sitting. "I still love them," he said with a rueful grin. He saw Harry smile and then. . . he kissed him. Draco instantly regretted it and waited for the hex to hit him. Instead he felt Harry's fingers on his cheek. "Is this ok?" he asked when they broke apart. No Malfoy had ever taken someone to their bed who wasn't willing. And that was the one tradition Draco would never break.  
  
Harry nodded against their lips brushing as he did. "I want this." It was exactly what he needed. Wordless comfort with no expectation, strings, or hopes. This was Malfoy for Merlin's sake. The boy would never want anything to do with him after this and that was a good thing from Harry's standpoint. "I've never. . ." he let his words trail off and he waited for Malfoy to make some cutting remark and throw him out of his room.  
  
When no reply came Harry looked up into shining eyes. "Neither have I." Draco smiled, well more leered. "We'll muddle through I'm sure."  
  
The sun had set on two innocent boys. But it would rise to find, in their place, two debauched young men who could make no claim to any form of innocence. And the sun would be deeply disappointed at missing the transaction.  
  
Draco had cast a warding charm on his curtains, no one would be able to hear them and they wouldn't hear anyone else. He assured Harry that no one would disturb them in the morning as his dorm mates were in fear of incurring his wrath. They knew that Draco wasn't a morning person. Much later they lay together in the silence. "Thank you," Harry said softly as he drew patterns over Draco's stomach.  
  
"You're welcome, after all, it was a great hardship on my part." He tried to sound serious but could stifle the laugh when Harry whacked at his chest. "Go to sleep, Harry, we have to get up soon enough." The name rolled off his tongue as though Draco had been saying it his entire life.  
  
"I will," replied Harry, "but I want to watch you for a little."  
  
Tensing Draco asked, "Will you leave when I fall asleep?" He didn't want the morning to find him alone after the night they had shared.  
  
"No, I'll be here when you wake up. I promise." Harry threaded his finger's through messy blond curls that were no longer held back with gel. "Good night, Draco."  
  
Early the next day Harry woke up to find hands tracing paths over his skin. He started to laugh, it tickled. Blue, grey eyes met his and he laughed again. He kissed his new friend with tenderness. "Told you I'd be here."  
  
"The Boy Who Lived is ticklish. I'll keep that in mind for future reference." Draco smirked before kissing the other boy again.  
  
The clandestine affair had continued throughout the last week of school. They were lovers and secretly friends but they weren't in love. All they were was two friends offering each other protection. Draco told Harry about his aunt and in return for Draco's show of confidence the Gryffindor told him about his family. As they boarded the train Draco had said softly, "I'll see you in the fall." He turned and walked away and with that their fling was over.  
  
*End of Flashback*  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sighing Harry saw the figure in the dusk light. He was glad it was getting dark. there was a good reason he didn't want to see his friend, his face was a solid bruise. "Hi," he said as he sat down on the curb next to Draco, "What was so urgent it couldn't wait two more weeks?"  
  
Draco turned to him his smile vanished the minute he saw his lover's face, "Oh my gods."  
  
"Drop it." Harry's voice had an edge that Draco feared. The blond ghosted his hand over Harry's face. "Drop it," repeated Harry this time sounding tired.  
  
Slowly after some deliberation Draco nodded, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to barge in on your private time. But I had to tell you this. And I couldn't do it through a letter or on the umm. . ." he pointed to the phone booth.  
  
"Phone," Harry filled in for him.  
  
"Right, phone. And I had to tell you before people somehow find out and it gets into the paper. Or worse if one of your idiot friends told you!"  
  
"Hey!" early on they had both agreed to never bring up the other's friends as they just *couldn't* be civil about them.  
  
"So I had to come. . ." he looked down at the tarmac of the road. "I'm pregnant. Almost seven weeks. It must have been on that first night." He heard Harry's small gasp and looked up with a weak smile, "It's not exactly a repercussion I was prepared for. I thought maybe you would hate me in the morning, I didn't think. . . before you ask, I'm keeping the baby. I'm not giving my baby up. And please don't think I came here to guilt you into helping me, I'm fine. I don't need your help. I just didn't want you to hear it through the rumor-mill."  
  
"Our baby?" asked Harry completely stunned, ". . . how?"  
  
"Some wizards are capable of carrying children. If the fates can't see them ever having an heir with a woman they act upon reflex. The powers that be clearly think I will never touch a woman. . . they're right."  
  
"Wow," Harry didn't know what the hell to say.  
  
"Yes, well. I'll let you go. I don't want to cause anymore trouble for you. I'm sorry if my being here has repercussions." Draco stood up and said softly, "I'm very sorry."  
  
They both knew what he was talking about but it had nothing to do with the baby. Instinct kicked in and Harry pulled Draco back. "No way, you don't get to come here, drop this on me, and leave!" Draco felt himself tear up. He hated all of the female hormones that were fucking up his life. "You say you don't want my help?! Fine! If that's what you want then you don't have to have anything to do with me. But it's my baby too and I am damn well going to have a place in its life."  
  
"Don't call the baby "it"," said Draco without even thinking. He was so relieved. It was true. He hadn't wanted Harry to help out of some idea of honor wherein the boy was bound to help. But Harry did want something to do with the baby. Draco had been fearing doing everything by himself.  
  
"Sorry." Harry was taken aback at the softness of Draco's voice. He tugged at Draco's arm again and the blond sat down next to him. He placed a gentle hand on the boy's flat taut stomach. "The baby's growing in there?" Draco just laughed and nodded. Harry saw the other boy start to cry. He studied him for a moment before pulling Draco into his lap, "Sh, it's all ok, Dragon. I'm right here now. You're not alone." Draco buried his head in Harry's shoulder. "I've missed you so badly."  
  
It was the understatement of the year. Over the summer he had been completely isolated from his friends, the Dursleys were just as horrible as always. At night he had two options. He could watch Sirius die over and over again or he could think about gentle touches and whispers. He could remember his godfather's stunned eyes or burning grey ones that made him moan just thinking about them. All of his free time had been spent in the company of his memories. Draco had sacrificed his virginity like a sacred lamb to help a boy he supposedly loathed. He had expected Harry to shoot him down. Why had he done it? Draco told him that he had never really hated Harry. He was afraid of what his father would think, but then his father was in prison and he was free to do what he had always wanted. And in the space of six weeks Harry had pieced together all of the pieces and had come to the realization that he was in love with a Malfoy.  
  
He held the blond close, breathed in his scent, and it was like coming home. "You're having my baby." He whispered, "Ya gonna have me?" he asked with a cheeky laugh. And then a thought occurred to him, "Why didn't I get pregnant?"  
  
Leaning back Draco looked at him though red eyes, "You mean 'cause you spent the same amount of time with me inside of you as you did inside of me?" He loved it when he made Harry blush. He never ceased to be amazed that a boy who could do such amazing things with his tongue could then go bright red over the most oblique of sexual references. It was one of the truest forms of torture and he wished he had known it back when they were adversaries because it was so pleasurable. "I don't know maybe the gods still think you might meet a nice girl."  
  
"I might," agreed Harry he wanted to see the reaction to know where Draco wanted him. The blonde's eyes flashed darkly, "And then I'll have my beautiful lover rip her to shreds."  
  
"Yeah?" asked Draco with a laugh. While he was straddling Harry's lap he leaned back and sat on the brunette's legs and studied the man, "Well I suppose I am the attractive one in this unnatural attraction." Harry laughed and pulled Draco back into a hug.  
  
"Where are you going? I'm coming with you, I don't want you to be alone."  
  
Smiling widely Draco said, "I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Dad got out of prison, Voldemort sprung him. Dumbledore is being my secret keeper, much to his chagrin." Harry liked it when Draco smiled. He had so many smirks and sneers and grimaces that it was amazing when the boy just gave in and grinned.  
  
"Your dad?"  
  
He could see the worry around Harry's bruised eyes, "I'm fine. He has no idea where I am and he never got his hands on me. It's not as though he knows about us anyway. I'm still his dark prince for all he knows."  
  
Harry nodded with slowness, "Be careful." He looked back down the street and knew that his aunt was watching them. He was screwed. "Maybe you should wait here while I get my stuff."  
  
"Nut-uh," Draco shook his head, "I agreed to drop it when I was an ex-thing who was just here to tell you that I was knocked up. But I'm your lover and you aren't going in there alone."  
  
"Draco, you'll make it worse," said Harry honestly.  
  
"No one's going to lay a fucking finger on you." There was a certainness in the tone that comforted the boy.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
She had turned her back on the window, "Honestly, what must the neighbors think?!"  
  
"I'll kill 'im. I'll ruddy well kill 'im. I thought I beat that outta 'im. I did not raise a poof!"  
  
"Do you think he's one of *them*?" she asked in a scandalized voice.  
  
"Did you not see them!" he bellowed.  
  
"No the boy, do you think he's one of. . . Lily's people?"  
  
"Yes, he lied on the phone. He's one of them. I can tell. No one normal would do a sick thing like that. Besides, he doesn't look right in jeans."  
  
"I think he looks pretty damn good in them," said a voice from the door. They turned to see Harry and the boy standing together. "Would you please unlock my things? I'm getting out of your way, leaving early." His uncle came towards him with his hands out to throttle the boy. Draco calmly drew his wand even with Vernon's heart.  
  
"I suggest, sir, that you make this as easy as possible." His voice was cold and bored.  
  
A sneer washed over Vernon's face, "You can't do anything to me boy, I know that you aren't old enough. Harry's gotten in trouble before."  
  
Draco raised an eyebrow and pulled out an official document, "I am a fully licensed practicing wizard." Petunia fainted and Vernon jumped back. Draco was flourishing his racing broom's lifetime guaranty but he knew the idiot wouldn't realize. "Kindly open the door for your nephew."  
  
Jumping into action Vernon unlocked the door with shaking hands. Harry ran upstairs to get his few personal effects while Draco took his trunk out to the garden. After saying a rather strained good bye Harry joined him. "What do those freaks think they're doing?" asked Vernon when he saw Draco raise his wand. His snarky attitude had returned the minute the extremely frightening child had left the house.  
  
A loud bang occurred and a huge bus was standing in the road. As the door swung open the Dursleys could hear, "Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy!? I never thought I'd see you two together!" They saw the blond boy smirk and it was unnerving and then as quickly as the bus had come it was gone. 


End file.
